What do we think of 1.3 and implications for the future

This week’s latest patch Hello Games (1.3) named Atlas Rises dropped like a bomb and isn’t it a treat? If you answered with a definite no, then please care to reconsider. This patch seems like it’s finally made No Man’s Sky the game it always set out to be! Are you not yet convinced that the game is actually worth playing now? Allow me to tell you why…

Apparently the world still has developers that keep caring for released products. No Man’s Sky celebrated its 1st anniversary earlier this month and boy, what a troublesome year it has been for the game and Hello Games in general. Initially we loved the game, as did most of you, but soon after the generic play-style set in and players released No Man’s Sky, in reality, wasn’t more than a resource gathering space sim, where every planet looked or felt more or less the same. You’ve probably read about the setbacks the game experienced, the disgruntled players who anticipated for much more diversity in the game-play and I could go on for a bit. But one thing’s definitely for sure: Them folks over at Hello Games sure are dedicated!

Money keeps the wheel turning

Sure, one could argue that the developers made a decent amount of money upon the release of the game and the months following, But that’s not everything, so I placed a somewhat deceptive subtitle here… Basically it’s what most people thought when the game release was followed by radio-silence from the developers and the communities felt they were unheard in their desperate cries for answers and feedback from Sean Murray and his friends in Guildford. But as stated above, there’s more than money, they could’ve split and run or begin working on other games/products. But they didn’t. Months followed and suddenly there was the Foundation patch, introducing new elements and broaden the game’s general experience. So Hello Games were actually working on improving the game! And there we were once more, right after the patch’s release. More silence, more inability to provide for proper news items and so this very site laid dormant for months and most of us turned away and started playing other games in the meantime. And then there was the Atlas Rises patch (1.3), profoundly revamping the game and making No Man’s Sky a lot, lot better to play! Seems the players agree, as shown by the new ratings of the game on Steam.

Communities live up

With 1.3 the game brings us revamped graphics with lots more diverse planets, environments, flora and fauna. We came across unique and rare planets, some with hexagonal themes, or with big animals and strange, eerie places. Along with that the Galactic Map got updated, we can now do missions and quests for rewards, there’s more than 30 hours of lore added and there are even crashed freighters to be scoured for loot! All of the sudden No Man’s Sky isn’t a singular resource-gathering space simulator anymore, there’s actually tons of stuff to do! This fact is resembled by the sheer amount of life in the various Facebook communities, heck we even saw our page’s views rise a lot the past week! And aside from small bugs and inconsistencies to be had, the game’s also heavily picked up in active players and even in sales, it even made the #1 spot on the top sellers for PS4 past week!

Multiplayer foundation is there

In the article Quentin posted a few days ago, we see that players can finally see other players! Something one couldn’t before and this was one of the major issues most people had with the game from the start. Before release it was heavily hinted (or even promised) that you could make your way to your friends and play the game together one way or the other. So when such an imported core feature turned to be totally lackluster upon release and after realizing more promised features weren’t actually in the game, players became angry quite rapidly and had the game refunded or stopped playing altogether. With 1.3 you can see other players, travel with them and show them around your base. And although be it as orbs for now, the foundation for more is most definitely there. In my personal opinion I dare to say we see the orbs for now as Hello Games is yet indecisive as to what we actually look like and therefore don’t have a model yet. Showing player models actually would make the players wanting to be able to customize their looks, which in turn is a massive undertaking so I reckon we’ll see that in a future patch.

Conclusion

It seems Hello Games has been devoted to improving their game and it shows. This patch wasn’t really expected by anyone to be this big and elaborate, but thankfully it is. It dropped like a bomb and stirred everything back up and now the game’s alive and kicking! Let’s hope this turn is for the best and we can expect more amazing content in the future.

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Dennis is one of the two founders of the website and has a strong passion for (online) gaming, webdesign, watching lot of different tv-series, his lovely daughter and loads of other stuff. He goes normally by the nickname of Reznar, which is his most played World of Warcraft character ;)

Lives in a small town in the Netherlands with his girlfriend and daughter and likes heavy metal. And italian food :)